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CATHERINE HEILFERTY

SCHOOL OF NURSING

CATHERINE HEILFERTY PHD, RN, CNE


Director of Outcomes & Accreditation
Assistant Professor
che@udel.edu
 302-831-0483

Office Location:
345B McDowell Hall

Dr. Heilferty’s research centers on the online experience of parenting a child during cancer treatment; symptom management in childhood cancer care; and on strategies to enhance nursing student success. Her area of research expertise is qualitative methods, especially in the use of narrative analysis.

 

Education

  • PhD, Villanova University
  • MSN, Villanova University
  • BSN, DeSales University

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • NURS 233: Introduction to Professional Nursing
  • NURS 262: Healthcare Research and Evidence-Based Practice
  • HLTH 241: Ethical Aspects of Healthcare
  • NURS 411: Biopsychosocial Care of Dying Patients and their Families
  • HLTH 467: Crafting Healthcare: Promoting Health in Unusual Spaces

 

Graduate

  • NURS 810: Philosophical and Theoretical Basis of Nursing Science
  • NURS 891: Teaching Practicum

Publications

  • Heilferty, C. M., Phillips, L. J., & Mathios, R. (2020). Letters from the pandemic: Nursing student narratives of change, challenges, and thriving at the outset of COVID-19. Journal of Advanced Nursing.
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2019). Cultural considerations when caring for children of diverse backgrounds. In G. Kersey-Matusiak (Ed.), Delivering Culturally Competent Nursing Care. New York: Springer.
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2018). The search for balance: Prolonged uncertainty in parent blogs of childhood cancer. Journal of Family Nursing, https://doi.org/10.1177/1074840718772310
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2018). “Hopefully this will all make sense at some point”: Meaning and performance in illness blogs. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043454218764880
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2011). Ethical considerations in the study of online illness narratives: A review of the qualitative literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(5), 924-931.
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2011). The balance we seek: A narrative analysis of parent illness blogs. (Doctoral dissertation). Villanova University, Villanova PA.
  • Heilferty, C. M. (2009). Toward a theory of online communication in illness: concept analysis of illness blogs. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65(7), 1539-1547.

Honors & Awards

  • Nominee, Excellence in Teaching Award, UD Faculty Senate Committee on Student and Faculty Honors, Spring 2020
  • Humanities for STEM Grant, University of Delaware Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center (IHRC): “Crafting Healthcare,” April 2020
  • Fellow, Leadership for Academic Nursing Program, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Washington, DC, 2016
  • Ray L. Taylor Research Award, Holy Family University, 2016
  • Holy Family University Outcomes and Institutional Research grant, 2014
  • Distinguished Dissertation Award, awarded by the doctoral faculty, Villanova University, 2012

College of Health Sciences

Academic Departments

ADDITIONAL LINKS

Connect

Tower at STAR: 100 Discovery Blvd, Newark, DE 19713<br> Health Sciences Complex: 540 S. College Ave, Newark, DE 19713   chs-info@udel.edu Phone: 302-831-1060